Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
